The project in Machava is part of Iris Ministries. This ministry was founded in 1980 by Roland and Heidi Baker. For years they traveled the world as missionaries. Day after day they witnessed the poverty and need in the world. In 1995 Roland and Heidi decided to move permanently to Mozambique and to take care of the many street children in Mozambique. Since then, they have opened several children's villages in this country.
The Machava Children's Village was one of the first children's projects they set up.
This children's village is run by Jesse and Raquel Braga along with their team of locals. About 60 children now live here. A nice anecdote is that one of the leaders here was taken in by Roland and Heidi Baker eighteen years ago.
These children are often brought to the center by social workers because they live in appalling conditions. Sometimes they find the children on the street and no one knows where the parents are and the child no longer knows where he or she comes from.
Because the project borders on a village, both the children of the project and the children from the village can go to the school that is located on the site of the children's center. This creates a great sense of community and the villagers can knock on the door of the center if they need it and the children of the center are closer to village life.
